Developing and Maintaining Secure and Reliable Software in the Real World

Friday, April 17, 2009

OpenSAMM shows a way

We have done a lot of work over the past 3 years to develop an effective software security program. We began working with Cigital’s Touchpoint model in 2006, starting with an internal vulnerability assessment. Touchpoints, described in Software Security: Building Security In by Gary McGraw, outline the required practices for secure software development. But to get real, applied value from the touch point model you have to break your own trail, or get consulting help from Cigital.

We brought consultants in from Secure Software (now part of Fortify) and Cigital’s software security practice to establish a baseline for the system and our organization, including a detailed tool-assisted code review and architecture assessment. With Cigital’s help we built a secure SDLC roadmap for the team, trained everyone in defensive coding, developed secure coding and code review guidelines, and added static analysis tools into our continuous build process.

Working with Cigital definitely kickstarted our security program. Cigital has some smart guys, and they know their stuff. However their approach became more heavyweight over time: their engagement model included assigning a practice manager and a project manager to what were otherwise small engagements, adding to cost and overhead while contributing little value. Their consulting model is clearly targeted towards bigger companies, with bigger consulting budgets and longer time horizons. We needed practical, concrete, immediate feedback; tools and deliverables that we could understand and use right away; and we worked hard with their team to get this.

As part of our security program we also work with another expert consulting firm, Foundstone Professional Services, who we contract for application vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. They have an efficient and well-defined engagement model, they are professional and thorough, and they’re fast. We get high-quality, clear and actionable feedback from their pen testing team – the results of Foundstone’s work not only validate the security of a release, they also provide a health check on the overall security posture of our team.

Based on this work, with the help of Cigital and Foundstone, we have a solid foundation in place and a high-level roadmap for continuous improvement. I am reviewing our next steps, looking to where we can get the most bang for our buck. To help with this I have been looking for a secure SDLC framework suitable for small companies – companies that cannot afford heavyweight process controls (with independent security teams and so on) and large expert consulting budgets, but still need to hold to a high standard of due diligence for secure software development and delivery.

I started working with the CLASP (the Comprehensive, Lightweight Application Security Process) framework from OWASP developed by Pravir Chandra while he was at Secure Software: Pravir then went on to Cigital (he was one of the consultants working with us) and is now independent. CLASP comes with a fair amount of resources, and is intended (as indicated by its name) to be lightweight. However it has not been well maintained since it was contributed, it is not aligned well with other OWASP initiatives; and there is little information on how to apply it and how to scale it. Just as I was growing frustrated at the amount of work it was going to take just to make CLASP useful, Pravir released “CLASP on steroids”, contributing a completely new framework, OpenSAMM to OWASP

OpenSAMM, a Software Assurance Maturity Model, offers a roadmap and well-defined maturity model for secure software development and deployment, with some good tools for self-assessment and planning. So far from my review, OpenSAMM seems more pragmatic than the “Building Security In Maturity Model” BSIMM developed out of the initial collaboration between Pravir, Gary McGraw at Cigital, and sponsored by Fortify Software.

I am working with OpenSAMM to see how it scales to small companies, with small teams using agile development methods. So far it looks promising and actionable. I have completed an internal assessment using the self-assessment tool, and I’m comparing the gap analysis findings to our roadmap plans. I will keep track of my experience with applying OpenSAMM and record my findings as I go along.

2 comments:

Hey Jim, I'm glad you're finding SAMM useful! If you have any questions as you go, just jump on the SAMM mailing list (http://lists.owasp.org/mailman/listinfo/samm). As things progress, maybe I can convince you to work with us on another case study!

Hi Pravir. I have completed a lightweight organizational assessment using the SAMM assessment checklists, and using the sample roadmaps as guidelines we are prioritizing the next steps for improving our software security program. I will post some notes on the SAMM mailing list.

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About Me

I am an experienced software development manager, project manager and CTO focused on hard problems in software development and maintenance, software quality and security. For the last 15 years I have managed teams building and operating high-performance financial systems.
My special interest is how small teams can be most effective in building real software: high-quality, secure systems at the extreme limits of reliability, performance, and adaptability. Software that has to work, that is built right, and built to last.
I use this blog to explore ideas and problems in software development that are important to me. To reflect and to find new answers.